Stu Stiles, former CEO of Avista Corp. subsidiary Advantage IQ, and Jennifer Ratcliffe, a Whitworth alumna and physician working in the San Francisco Bay area, were both elected to the Whitworth University Board of Trustees on Oct. 13 during the board's fall meeting. They join fellow new trustee, the Rev. Paul Cunningham, who was elected to the board last spring.
Stiles served as president and CEO of Spokane-based Advantage IQ, which provides strategic energy management services to Fortune 1000 companies, from 2004 to 2009, during which he more than doubled the company's revenue. Prior to that, Stiles served as executive general manager at XO Communications, in Spokane, as general manager and vice president of sales at Redmond, Wash.-based Teknon Corp., and as general sales manager and Northwest division manager for Modesto, Calif.-based Ernest & Julio Gallo Winery.

Stiles currently works as an independent philanthropy professional and remains heavily involved with the International Assistance Program, a locally-run ministry that provides micro-financing in Africa and Central America. In the past, Stiles has served as chair of the board of the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute, and on the boards of the Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Spokane Economic Development Council and the Inland Northwest Technology Education Center (INTEC of Spokane). In addition, he has served as co-chair of the Whitworth School of Global Commerce & Management's advisory council. Stiles is a graduate of the University of South Dakota, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in business administration. He and his wife, Natalie, have four sons.

Jennifer Ratcliffe

Jennifer Ratcliffe, who specializes in reproductive endocrinology and infertility endocrinology, serves as medical director and physician at Advanced Fertility Associations Medical Group, which she founded in Santa Rosa, Calif., in 2002. She attended Tufts University School of Medicine, where she earned an M.D. and a Ph.D. in biochemistry. She was the only candidate selected nationwide for a prestigious program at the University of California, San Francisco, which combined her residency in obstetrics and gynecology and her fellowship in reproductive endocrinology and infertility.

Ratcliffe received her bachelor's of science degree in chemistry from Whitworth in 1986. She is a fellow in the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and is a member of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology. She also serves on the board of the Santa Rosa East Rotary, and is a volunteer teacher with Junior Achievement and a coach for Girls on the Run. She and her husband, Jay, who is an '85 Whitworth alum, have a daughter.

Paul Cunningham

The Rev. Paul Cunningham has been pastor of La Jolla Presbyterian Church, in California, since 2006. Previously he has served as senior pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church, in Lubbock, Texas, and as pastor of Fain Presbyterian Church, in Wichita Falls, Texas. In 2010, he was installed as vice moderator of the Presbytery of San Diego.

Cunningham earned a bachelor's of science degree in finance from Santa Clara University in 1988. He received an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1994 and was ordained by the Palo Duro Presbytery that same year. In 2010, he earned a doctor of ministry degree from Reformed Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Shannon, who is an artist, have two children.

Located in Spokane, Wash., Whitworth is a private liberal arts university affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). The university, which has an enrollment of nearly 3,000 students, offers 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.